by Burbie52, HSM team writer

We are in Home for experiences that we cannot get elsewhere. Home is a series of experiences that we string together to create our own little piece of this virtual world. These experiences are made up of friends, clubs, and gaming within Homes structure and once in awhile something new comes to us that can immerse us once again in something new and exciting to add to this world we have all created. The Kikai Machine Empire is one such game.

I have not gotten into any of the Granzella games that are offered here in Home at all. Although I’m a gamer at heart, most of my time gaming is spent outside of Home playing a variety of games from Skyrim to Odd World and Journey. I like all sorts of different game genres except perhaps FPS, and though the games in Home are a lot of fun, I simply don’t have the time to spend on them much.

When the new Kikai Empire (pronounced kee-kai) game came out here in NA Home on Thursday evening you, could almost feel the electricity buzzing in the air from the excitement of the people waiting for the launch. Some of my friends and I assembled at Neon Downtown at nine o’clock Eastern time thinking it would start then, only to find it was still an hour away as a countdown clock appeared. We went our separate ways and then regrouped just before the event began. It was worth the wait.

Look for blue dust

It was a lot of fun watching the spaceships above the town attacking us and destroying everything around us. When the beginning mayhem was over and the virtual dust had cleared, we were told to find a “Secret Base” that had been established for the resistance fighters. It was hidden in the Granzella Beach Hideaway, behind the shop shack. Once there, you are transported to the “Secret Base,” where you are given a wooden sword and told to return to Neon Downtown to test your mettle as a warrior and prove your worthiness as an addition to the forces of good.

Once you have accomplished this training mission and proved yourself, you are transported back to the base where you can finally enter and the real game begins. You have to choose what class you are going to be, and there are three of them. Hacker, Beam Warrior and Healer. All of these will become important roles as the game get progressively harder to play alone, especially when you get to boss fights.

The one thing I wish they had incorporated into the game is a way to team up with others, literally. I can play with my friends, but we are all on our own trying to beat the game, not truly getting the credit for completion without killing the robotic enemies alone. This makes for a much harder experience if you are anything but a Beam soldier, and even then it’s difficult sometimes. I found that I could play it alone as a Beam Warrior just as well as with others, though I might have to redo it a few times. Some of the other classes, like healers, might have more trouble with it.

These work as well

Once you have been initiated into the secret fighting group, you will be given a series of tasks to perform by the NPC you find in the base. There are a series of side quests as well as the main story ones, ranging from rescuing people to finding items that are spread throughout the gaming areas in clouds of blue sparkling dust.

One tip I can give you is that you can use any pieces of body armor you might already have in your possession from the demon fighting game in Edo. This will greatly boost your defense when trying to beat the Kikai machines. The same isn’t true of the weapons though, you can’t use the sword from Edo here or use the one from this game in Edo. Another tip is that you need to talk to everyone you see in the game – there are a lot of NPCs here.

This game is one of the best in Home so far; it has my attention and I have been enjoying playing it. There are even some cut scenes involved, something rarely seen in any Home game. I can see trying to do it as a play through a few times to try and master all the classes if you are so inclined. It has made me purchase two upgrades, something I haven’t done before in any Home game. You can purchase better weapons or gear for $1.99 that are upgradable.

There’s also a companion that can either attack or support your experience as a healer and booster for $2.49. These also give you a companion for Home use and an unusual head item to wear. The rabbit is a healer, the  talking radish adds to your attack and defensive abilities and the dog is strictly for attacking. They each can be used by any class, but they have a specific affinity for certain ones and tend to enhance their capabilities. The rabbit is for use with Samurai as they can heal you at certain intervals, the dog is for Hackers as they protect them by attacking with body slams on the enemies, and the radish does a lot of different support features like enhancing defense, attack movement speed and gauge increases, all of these are for helping healers survive long enough to complete their missions. If you use the proper one they will have an increased affinity for your avatar that boost their abilities, and they all level up as the game progresses and you complete your quests.

Finally finished!

There are a total of eleven quests available in the game, which I won’t go into detail as it would spoil the fun. Suffice it to say you will be replaying a lot of the areas offered. There are six, including Neon Downtown, and you will be doing a lot of downloading. The regular spaces from Granzella – Edo, and Southern Island Hideaway – all play a part in the game at some point as well. There are some nice rewards to be gathered as you finish the game, including furniture and ornaments as well as some clothing items. All of the furniture pieces are renderings of previous ones.

The final reward here is a crown that appears over your head signifying that you have completed the game, but many of my friends have been replaying this over and over. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and I wish it wasn’t leaving us after the August 7th update. I think that it would be a great addition, but more than anything I hope that Neon Downtown with its accompanying games stays with us, even if it means losing the Kikai Machine Empire game.

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2 Responses to “The Kikai Machine Empire Experience”

1. ted2112 says:

   August 5, 2013 at 1:00 am

   I blame you for getting me into this game! I think it’s a blast to play and I really hope they keep this game around longer than Aug 8th.

   Thanks for the Edo armor tip!

   Reply
2. Gary160974 says:

   August 5, 2013 at 6:02 am

   To get the longer nose on your robot head you have to replay the game I believe there’s 4 different endings. When the king gives you a choice of two endings after you have done both I believe a 3rd and 4th appear. It was bugged for me in the EU I played through whole game every level so many times but couldn’t get one level to trigger id played it more than once. When it ends the secret base will stay around so you can collect your final positioning rewards, but the rest has gone back to normal in EU with Neon Downtown disappearing.

   Reply